The second week of the women's basketball schedule has clubs taking on tough road challenges in non-conference action. Early leaders Long Beach State has a road contest againt San Francisco, while Cal Poly and CSUN face ranked Pac-12 opposition in #9 UCLA and #7 Stanford. Defending regular season champion UC Riverside also has a Pac-12 slate as it travels to USC and California.

AROUND THE BIG WEST

UP TO SPEED
Cal State Fullerton junior Iman Lathan has hit the ground running for the Titans, her first season with the program after transferring from Nevada. Lathan started her CSF career with 20 points against San Diego, then followed that up with a career-best 27-point outing against Idaho. Lathan’s 23.5 points per game average is the best in the league after the first weekend of play.

CAREER-BEST MUSTANGS
The Cal Poly duo of senior Hannah Gilbert and junior Lynn Leaupepe put up huge outings against Sacramento State. Gilbert recorded a personal best 29 points and picked up 17 rebounds, while Leaupepe recorded a career-high 31 points on 11-of-13 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Leaupepe shattered her previous high of 19 points set almost a year ago to the day against Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

MAKING A POINT
The opening weekend saw plenty of offense as four teams exceeded the 90-point barrier. CSUN put up the most points with a program DI-record 99 against Portland State, LBSU scored 97 in overtime against Nevada, Cal Poly recorded 96 in a loss to Sacramento State and UC Davis lit up the scoreboard for 91 against Holy Names. A year ago, the league’s first 90-point non-conference game came on December 6.

Also the Mustang loss was five years to the day a Big West club last lost a non-conference regular season game in which it recorded 90 or more points. That day Cal Poly lost 102-93 to Oregon.

QUICK START FOR THE AGGIES
UC Davis is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2011 when the Aggies got off to a 5-0 start. That year UCD ultimately won 17 games and received an at-large berth into the WNIT.

WORTH THE WAIT
UC Riverside junior Lauren Holt made her Highlander debut last week and didn’t disappoint, recording 22 points, five rebounds, five threes made, two steals and a block in 31 minutes in the victory over San Diego State. Holt sat out last year after transferring from Portland State where she averaged 9.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 2014-15.

LET IT FLY
Long Beach State was not shy about hoisting up three-pointers over its first two games, recording a combined 67 attempts from beyond the arc. The Beach spaced out those attempts evenly as they recorded 32 against Nevada and 35 against Pepperdine. The club will look to improve its accuracy from deep as it hit just 22.4% (15-67) over the two contests.

NEARING GRAND STATUS
Barring unforeseen circumstances, four players are leading the charge into the 1,000-point club this season.

UC Riverside senior Simone DeCoud is tops on the list with 965 points, while Long Beach State senior Anna Kim (821) and Gilbert (786) should join the list by season’s end. Another player to keep an eye on is Verin (550) as she put up 544 points last year, her first with UCR after transferring from UNLV.